scholarly journals Towards more effective visualisations in climate services: best practices and recommendations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Terrado ◽  
Luz Calvo ◽  
Diana Urquiza ◽  
Sara Octenjak ◽  
Andria Nicodemou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Service Projects ◽  
Choropleth Maps ◽  
Climate Service

<p>The visual communication of climate information is one of the cornerstones of climate services. Characteristics that make a climate service self-explanatory rely on the type of representation used, e.g. interactive or static maps, charts or infographics, and the visual channels applied for the translation of multi-dimensional data, e.g. combination of colour, size, opacity, shapes and other characteristics.</p><p>Climate scientists have traditionally used predetermined types of visualisations to represent climate data, including maps (e.g. flood maps, heat maps, choropleth maps), line graphs, and probability distribution functions (PDFs). However, such a tradition neglects a plethora of stakeholders (e.g. businesses, policy makers, citizens) that are increasingly involved in climate adaptation and that are less familiar with the traditional ways of presenting these data.</p><p>Effective visualisations should achieve a balance between the amount of represented data, its robustness (i.e. the representation of scientific confidence and consensus) and saliency (i.e. the relevance of the information to user needs). Choices regarding the representation of uncertainty as well as the terminology and language used in visualisations, can significantly impact the way users interpret climate data. This calls for a standardised approach for the visualisation of climate services, which can benefit from best practices applied in other disciplines, such as user experience, visualisation design, graphic design and cognitive psychology.</p><p>We describe the main challenges for the visualisation of climate services identified during a visualisation workshop with representatives from 22 climate service projects involved in the Climateurope network, an EU-funded coordination and support action. In break-out group discussions, participants shared their experiences in the development of climate services visualisations and the lessons learned. Findings show that the chosen representation of uncertainty tends to be case specific and that, in general, there is a preference for interactive visualisations where information is gradually disclosed. Inter- and transdisciplinary approaches and aspects related to terminology and language, which are part of the service co-development, require further attention. The analysis of the obtained results provides a picture of the current practice of the climate services visualisation field in Europe and allows to identify recommendations for the development of the next generation of climate services.</p>

Visualisation in climate services: status and recommendations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Terrado ◽  
Diana Urquiza ◽  
Sara Octenjak ◽  
Andria Nicodemou ◽  
Dragana Bojovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Multidimensional Data ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Visual Encoding ◽  
Choropleth Maps ◽  
Climate Service

<p>The visual communication of climate information is one of the cornerstones of climate services. Characteristics that make a climate service self-explanatory rely on the visual modes it employs, e.g. maps, graphs or infographics, and the visual channels applied for the translation of multidimensional data, e.g. combination of colours, shapes or slopes. </p><p>Climate scientists have traditionally used predetermined types of visualisations to present climate data, including flood maps, heat maps or choropleth maps. However, such a tradition neglects a plethora of stakeholders (e.g. businesses, policy makers, citizens) that are increasingly involved in climate adaptation and that are less familiar with the traditional ways of presenting these data. In this sense, there is a need to advance towards climate services visualisations that can guide climate change adaptation decisions by helping users to interpret and use the information as simply and quickly as possible.</p><p>Effective visualisations should achieve a balance between the amount of represented data, its robustness (i.e. the representation of scientific confidence and consensus) and saliency (i.e. the relevance of the information to user needs). Therefore, choices regarding the representation of probabilities (e.g. using terciles or information on extreme events), the representation of uncertainty (e.g. showing the ensemble range or filtering by a skill threshold), the type of visual encoding (e.g. selection of the colour palette, use of shapes and sizes) as well as the terminology and language used, are some aspects that can significantly impact the way users interpret climate data.</p><p>We describe the main challenges for the visualisation of climate services identified during a visualisation workshop with representatives from 22 climate services projects involved in the Climateurope network, an EU-funded coordination and support action. In break-out group discussions, participants shared their experiences in the development of effective climate services visualisations and the lessons learned. Findings show that the chosen representation of uncertainty and probabilities tends to be case specific and that there is a preference for interactive visualisations where information is gradually disclosed. Minimising the use of technical concepts in visualisations was highlighted as an objective that requires further attention. The analysis of the obtained results provides a picture of the current status of the climate services visualisation field in Europe and gives recommendations for the development of the next generation of climate services.</p>

scholarly journals Trials, Errors, and Improvements in Coproduction of Climate Services

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (8) ◽  
pp. 1419-1428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik W. Kolstad ◽  
Oda N. Sofienlund ◽  
Hanna Kvamsås ◽  
Mathew A. Stiller-Reeve ◽  
Simon Neby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Science ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Service Projects ◽  
Climate Service

AbstractClimate change yields both challenges and opportunities. In both cases, costly adaptations and transformations are necessary and desirable, and these must be based on realistic and relevant climate information. However, it is often difficult for climate scientists to communicate this information to decision-makers and stakeholders, and it can be equally difficult for such actors to interpret and put the information to use. In this essay, we discuss experiences and present recommendations for scientists producing climate services. The basis is our work in several climate service projects. One of them aimed to provide local-scale climate data for municipalities in western Norway and to explore how the data were interpreted and implemented. The project was first based solely on climate science expertise, and the participants did not have sufficient competence on coproduction and knowledge about the regulatory and political landscape in which municipalities operate. Initially, we also subscribed to an outdated idea of climate services, where knowledge providers (climate scientists) “deliver” their information to knowledge users (e.g., municipal planners). Increasingly, as stressed in the literature on coproduction of knowledge, we learned that climate service should be an iterative process where actionable information is coproduced through two-way dialogue. On the basis of these and other lessons learned the hard way, we provide a set of concrete recommendations on how to embed the idea of coproduction from the preproposal stage to beyond the end of climate service projects.

The overwhelming jungle of climate information and the role of climate services.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Buontempo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
National Programmes ◽  
Relevant Variables ◽  
Engineering Standards ◽  
Climate Service ◽  
Different Sources

<div>Climate adaptation often requires high resolution information about the expected changes in the statistical distribution of user-relevant variables. Thanks to targeted national programmes, research projects and international climate service initiatives  this kind of information is not only becoming more easily available but it is also making its way into building codes, engineering standards as well as the risk assessments for financial products.  If such an increase in the use of climate data can be seen as a positive step towards the construction of a climate resilient society, it is also true that the inconsistencies that exist between the information derived from different sources of information, have the potential to reduce the user uptake, increase the costs of adaptation and even undermine the credibility of both climate services and the underpinning climate science.</div><div>This paper offers a personal reflection on the emerging user requirements in this field. The presenation also aims at suggesting  some prelimimary ideas in support of the development of appropriate methodologies for extracting robust evidence from different sources in a scalable way.</div>

scholarly journals The VIADUC project: innovation in climate adaptation through service design

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-205
Author(s):  
L. Corre ◽  
P. Dandin ◽  
D. L'Hôte ◽  
F. Besson
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
End Users ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Climate Services

Abstract. From the French National Adaptation to Climate Change Plan, the "Drias, les futurs du climat" service has been developed to provide easy access to French regional climate projections. This is a major step for the implementation of French Climate Services. The usefulness of this service for the end-users and decision makers involved with adaptation planning at a local scale is investigated. As such, the VIADUC project is: to evaluate and enhance Drias, as well as to imagine future development in support of adaptation. Climate scientists work together with end-users and a service designer. The designer's role is to propose an innovative approach based on the interaction between scientists and citizens. The chosen end-users are three Natural Regional Parks located in the South West of France. The latter parks are administrative entities which gather municipalities having a common natural and cultural heritage. They are also rural areas in which specific economic activities take place, and therefore are concerned and involved in both protecting their environment and setting-up sustainable economic development. The first year of the project has been dedicated to investigation including the questioning of relevant representatives. Three key local economic sectors have been selected: i.e. forestry, pastoral farming and building activities. Working groups were composed of technicians, administrative and maintenance staff, policy makers and climate researchers. The sectors' needs for climate information have been assessed. The lessons learned led to actions which are presented hereinafter.

scholarly journals Towards a Traceable Climate Service: Assessment of Quality and Usability of Essential Climate Variables

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yijian Zeng ◽  
Zhongbo Su ◽  
Iakovos Barmpadimos ◽  
Adriaan Perrels ◽  
Paul Poli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Quality ◽  
Service Needs ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Carbon Cycles ◽  
Usability Assessment ◽  
Information Products ◽  
Climate Service

Climate services are becoming the backbone to translate climate knowledge, data & information into climate-informed decision-making at all levels, from public administrations to business operators. It is essential to assess the technical and scientific quality of the provided climate data and information products, including their value to users, to establish the relation of trust between providers of climate data and information and various downstream users. The climate data and information products (i.e., from satellite, in-situ and reanalysis) shall be fully traceable, adequately documented and uncertainty quantified and can provide sufficient guidance for users to address their specific needs and feedbacks. This paper discusses details on how to apply the quality assurance framework to deliver timely assessments of the quality and usability of Essential Climate Variable (ECV) products. It identifies an overarching structure for the quality assessment of single product ECVs (i.e., consists of only one single variable), multi-product ECVs (i.e., more than one single parameter), thematic products (i.e., water, energy and carbon cycles), as well as the usability assessment. To support a traceable climate service, other than rigorously evaluating the technical and scientific quality of ECV products, which represent the upstream of climate services, how the uncertainty propagates into the resulting benefit (utility) for the users of the climate service needs to be detailed.

scholarly journals Mind the Gap: Towards a Typology of Climate Service Usability Gaps

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Raaphorst ◽  
Gerben Koers ◽  
Gerald Jan Ellen ◽  
Amy Oen ◽  
Bjørn Kalsnes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
The North ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Climate Service ◽  
North And South

Literature on climate services presents a large diversity of different services and uses. Many climate services have ‘usability gaps’: the information provided, or the way it is visualized, may be unsuitable for end users to inform decision-making processes in relation to adaptation against climate change impacts or for the development of policies to this end. The aim of this article is to contribute to more informed and efficient decision-making processes in climate adaptation by developing a typology of usability gaps for climate services. To do so, we first present and demonstrate a so-called ‘climate information design’ (CID) template with which to study and potentially improve the visual communicative qualities of climate services. Then, two climates services are selected for a further, qualitative explorative case study of two cases in the north and south of the Netherlands. A combination of focus group sessions and semi-structured interviews are used to collect data from Dutch governmental stakeholders as well as private stakeholders and NGOs. This data is then coded to discover what usability gaps are present. We then present twelve different types of usability gaps that were encountered as a typology. This typology could be used to improve and redesign climate services.

scholarly journals Best Practices and Lessons Learned in the Implementation of Global Framework for Climate Services—Adaptation Programme in Africa: Tanzania-Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (04) ◽  
pp. 749-766
Author(s):  
Agnes Lawrence Kijazi ◽  
Ladislaus Benedict Chang’a ◽  
Wilbert Timiza Muruke ◽  
Mathew Masumbuko Ndaki ◽  
Mecklina Merchades Babyegeya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Climate Services

What methods of interaction with users have proved to better perform for advanced co-development of climate services in the water sector?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
María José Polo ◽  
Rafael Pimentel ◽  
María José Pérez-Palazón ◽  
Pedro Torralbo ◽  
Little Lorna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Online Surveys ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Climate Service ◽  
Development Approach ◽  
Adequate Communication ◽  
Key Questions

<p>A wide offer of climate data sources/services is currently available dealing with future climate scenarios and projections. A huge effort has been done at European scale to promote and share openly this information. However, their use is not extensive and their potential is frequently underexploited. There is usually a significant gap between the complexity of climate metadata and the users’ capability of exploiting them. Furthermore, this gap is also found between the expertise of climate data providers and the every-day operation of the different potentially interested end-users. Additionally, in some sectors users are not aware of climate service capabilities which prevent them from valuing and then demanding such services.</p><p>In this context, co-development improves and fosters climate services’ usability and uptake when compared to a traditional one-side development approach, since it best meets users’ needs and demands. However, co-development can be time-consuming for both sides and less effective than expected if an adequate communication design is missing. In this context, what methods of interaction with users have proved to better perform for advanced co-development of climate services? And, what factors have best motivated users to interact? are key questions to provide guidelines and profit from the on-going initiatives.</p><p>Three different approaches with users (mainly in the water sector) were tested: guided online surveys (anonymous users); focus groups (users known to different partners in the project); case study clients (users regularly interact with project partners). Indicators and metrics were used to evaluate and value the contribution from each group in the context of co-development of climate services that give future projections of water availability. The results of this comparison provide a conceptual framework to design and apply co-development strategies for climate services oriented to different groups within the water sector.</p><p>This work was funded by the project AQUACLEW, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Commission [Grant 690462].</p>

scholarly journals Improving the climate data management in the meteorological service of Angola: experience from SASSCAL

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Posada ◽  
Domingos Nascimento ◽  
Francisco Osvaldo S. Neto ◽  
Jens Riede ◽  
Frank Kaspar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Service Centre ◽  
Management Concepts ◽  
First Results ◽  
Science Service

Abstract. The knowledge on climate variability in parts of Southern Africa is limited because of the low availability of historic and present-day ground-based observations (Niang et al., 2014). However, there is an increased need of climate information for research, climate adaptation measures and climate services. To respond to the challenges of climate change and related issues, Angola, Botswana, Germany, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia have initiated the interdisciplinary regional competence centre SASSCAL, the "Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management". As part of the initiative, Germany's national meteorological service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD) cooperates with the meteorological services of Angola, Botswana and Zambia in order to improve the management and availability of historical and present-day climate data in these countries. The first results of the cooperation between the German and the Angolan Meteorological Services are presented here. International assessments have shown that improvements of the data management concepts are needed in several countries. The experience of this cooperation can therefore provide hints for comparable activities in other regions.

Adapting Tactical Military Structures to the Current and Future Operational Environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-162
Author(s):  
Paul Tudorache ◽  
Lucian Ispas
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Organizational Adaptation ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
The Future ◽  
Military Units

AbstractUsing the lessons learned from recent military operations such as Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) from Syria and Iraq, we proposed to investigate the need for tactical military units to adapt operationally to grapple with the most common requirements specific to current operational environments, but also for those that can be foreseen in the future. In this regard, by identifying the best practices in the field that can be met at the level of some important armies, such as USA and UK, we will try to determine a common denominator of most important principles whose application may facilitate both operational and organizational adaptation necessary for tactical military units to perform missions and tasks in the most unknown future operational environments.

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